Mouthpiece for musical instrument

ABSTRACT

A reed mouthpiece comprises a body with a mouthpipe imbedded therein and projecting from one end thereof and terminating in a fitting for airtight connection to the mouthpiece receiver of a wind instrument. The mouthpipe tapers internally to an air outlet within the body. The body has a shallow tapered tone chamber and a reed is disposed across the lay facing at the vent side of the tone chamber. A throat in the body angles from the chamber and connects at an angle to the air outlet.

O United States Patent [111 3,568,561

72] Inventor Herbert Gutstein 2,525,523 10/1950 Chance 84/383 Chicago, [11. 2,527,988 10/1950 Dillon 84/383 [2!] Appl. No. 820,346 3,150,554 9/l964 Leloup 84/383 [22] giled' d Qpr. 2;9,ll99769 FOREIGN PATENTS atente II. l 4 4 I F Assign Eddie 2 l A rance 84/383 Chicago, 11]. Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-John F Gonzales Attorney-Spector & Alster [54] MOUTHPIECE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: A reed mouthpiece comprises a body with a [52] 84/383 mouthpipe imbedded therein and projecting from one end [51] 610d 9/02 thereof and terminating in a fitting for airtight connection to [50] Field of Search B the mouthpiece receiver of a wind instrument. The mouthpipe 330 tapers internally to an air outlet within the body. The body has a shallow tapered tone chamber and a reed is disposed across [56] k Cited the lay facing at the vent side of the tone chamber. A throat in UNTTED STATES PATENTS the body angles from the chamber and connects at an angle to 1,629,932 5/l927 Simpsonm. 84/383 the airoutlet.

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Patented March 9, 1971 QM 7 //y/// luv euro R HERBERT Gursma Awvs MOUTHPIECE FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT This invention relates generally to musical instrumentsand more particularly to a mouthpiece fora wind instrument.

it is an object of this invention to provide a single reedutilizing mouthpiece that may be used with a variety of double reed-type woodwind instruments such as oboe, bassoon, etc. to produce a double reed tone quality and which eliminates the need for extensive practice that is usually required to develop the embouchure for playing double reed instruments.

It is further object of this invention to provide a reed-utilizing mouthpiece that may be used-with a variety of brass-wind instruments such as trumpets, cornets,trombones,.etc. in lieu of the cup mouthpiece with which such brass-wind instruments are customarily used and which is capable of producing the same tone quality as is obtained from a cup mouthpiece.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a mouthpiece of the type stated which can be readily mounted on and removed from the mouthpiece receiver of a brass-wind instrument without the need for receiver. I I

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a mouthpiece that makes'it easier for beginners to produce a tone than would otherwise be the case if the usual cup altering the mouthpiece z mouthpiece were used. Furthermore, the reed mouthpiece of this invention eliminates the use of lip muscle strain and pressure attendant with the use of cup 'mouthpieces.

The attainment of the above and further objects of this invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof. Y

. in the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view ofa mouthpiece constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention land shown mounted on the mouthpiece receiver of a brass-wind instrument;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary bottom plan view thereof; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3,3 ofFlG. 1.

Referring now in more detail to the drawing, 1 designates a mouthpiece comprising a hard rubber body 2 of approximately cylindrical configuration at one end 3 with a flat surface 4 that provides a taper to the other end 6 of the body 2. The body is formed with a tapered axial-bore 7 that opens at the end 3 and receives a mouthpipe 8 that is imbedded in the body 2 at the bore 7 and projects axially outwardly from the body end 3. The mouthpipe bore 9 is internally tapered from one end to the other, the narrower diameter end being within the body 2. 1

The narrower end of the mouthpipe ,8 communicates and is in alignment with an air outlet chamber- 12 in the body 2 so that the air outlet. chamber 12 and mouthpipe 8 form a passageway that is continuous with the wind passageway of the mouthpiece. The end of the mouthpipe 8 outwardly of the body 2 has a terminal with a corksleeve 13 that sealingly fits within the mouthpiece receiver 14 on an instrument, such as a brass-wind instrument. A flange 16-on the mouthpipe 8 limits the amount of insertion of the sleeve 13 into the receiver 14' removal of the mouthpiece of the body 2 is a tone chamber 17 having a wall 18 and sidewall 19 that defines the sides-of the tone 17. The portions 21, 22 of the sidewall 19 diverge from the end wall 23 of the chamber 17 to the body end 6. The depth of the chamber 17 at the end 23, as measured from the side opening, is small as compared to the total thickness of the body at that region. The wall 18, moreover, has a shallow taper to the body end 6, as seen in FIG. 1.

Formed in the body 2 is a throat 24 that opens to the wall 18 at the chamber end wall 23 andto the air outlet chamber 12. The throat 24 extends at an angle from the wall 18 and connects at an angle to the air outlet chamber 12 and thus is also at an angle to the axis of the mouthpipe bore 9. Where the throat 24 merges with the air outlet 12 it may be of a crosssectional area approximately that of the adjacent end of the air outlet chamber 12 and merges smoothly therewith.

A vibratory reed 26 is disposed across lay facing 30, which is formed by the outer edges of the tone chamber sidewall 19. The reed 26 has sides 27, 28 that are tapered correspondingly to the lay facing. The thickness of the reed 26 also tapers towards the body end and terminates in a substantially straight transverse edge to correspond with the adjacent end of the chamber 17. A reed clamp 29 encircles the body 2' and has a screw 31 for threading into a nut 32 to tighten the clamp to hold the reed 26 flush against thev table 33. The sides of the table 33 are tapered and conform to the taper of the sides of the reed. The reed constitutes one wall of the tone chamber 17, that is part of a wind passagewaywhich includes the tone chamber 17, the throat 24, and the air outlet chamber 12.

When the mouthpiece is used, the vibratory reed 26 cooperates with the tone chamber 17 to produce the tone and the sound waves pass through the throat 24 and air outlet chamber 12 and into the mouthpipe 8 and into the instrument. The mouthpipe 8 becomes, in effect, a part of the air outlet chamber 12, helping to amplify the sound that enters the air outlet chamber 12 from the throat 24.

l claim:

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising a body having a tonechamber at the mouth end thereof with an opening at one side of the body adapted to receive a vibratory reed over. said opening, means offset from the chamber for providing an air passageway extending from a region within the body to the outside of the body and constituting a second chamber adapted to connect with a wind musical in strument, means forming a throat joining the two chambers, said tone chamber and said passageway and said second chamber constituting one continuous wind passageway, the tone chamber part of said wind passageway being of increasing cross sectional area along its longitudinal direction from the mouth end thereof, said throat opening into said tone chamber at the portion thereof which is of maximum crosssectional area, the longitudinal axis of the throat being at a substantial angle to the longitudinal axis of the tone chamber at the location where the throat opens into the tone chamber, the minimum cross-sectional area of the throat passageway being less than the cross-sectional area of the tone chamber at the place where the throat opens into the tone chamber, whereby said throat constitutes a constriction of the portion of the wind passageway between the tone chamber and said second chamber. 

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising a body having a tone chamber at the mouth end thereof with an opening at one side of the body adapted to receive a vibratory reed over said opening, means offset from the chamber for providing an air passageway extending from a region within the body to the outside of the body and constituting a second chamber adapted to connect with a wind musical instrument, means forming a throat joining the two chambers, said tone chamber and said passageway and said second chamber constituting one continuous wind passageway, the tone chamber part of said wind passageway being of increasing cross sectional area along its longitudinal direction from the mouth end thereof, said throat opening into said tone chamber at the portion thereof which is of maximum cross-sectional area, the longitudinal axis of the throat being at a substantial angle to the longitudinal axis of the tone chamber at the location where the throat opens into the tone chamber, the minimum crosssectional area of the throat passageway being less than the cross-sectional area of the tone chamber at the place where the throat opens into the tone chamber, whereby said throat constitutes a constriction of the portion of the wind passageway between the tone chamber and said second chamber. 